NSF I-Corps Proposal: Elongated Instrument Cleaner

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是改进腹腔镜手术的器械。在手术过程中，范围视力可能会受损，需要将范围从体内移除，从而造成经济和医疗上的不利因素。我们的技术通过提供清洁机制来帮助减轻从身体上移除示波器的需要。在这个阶段，这项技术的商业潜力似乎是有效的，有广泛的机会来满足既定的市场需求。这个i-Corps项目专注于一种技术，可以被描绘成管子、轴或尖端有刮板的长臂。它的主要用途是用作细长乐器远端的清洁机构。这项技术的智力优势允许探索细长器械周围的清洁技术应用，在医疗领域具有特别的机会。在这一阶段，概念验证已经用表现出可接受性能的功能原型进行了演示。当细长的仪器被限制在狭窄的和/或深的洞穴中时，尤其适用。这一裁决反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is improvements in instrumentation for laparoscopic surgery. During surgery, scope vision may become impaired, requiring scope removal from the body and economic and medical disadvantages. Our technology helps mitigate the need of scope removal from the body by providing a cleaning mechanism. The commercial potential for this technology appears valid at this stage, with broad opportunity to address an established market need.This I-Corps project focuses on a technology that can be pictured as a tube, shaft, or long arm with a squeegee at its tip. Its main purpose is to serve as a cleaning mechanism for the far end of an elongated instrument. The intellectual merit of this technology allows for the exploration of cleaning technology application surrounding elongated instruments, with particular opportunity in the medical field. At this stage, proof of concept has been demonstrated with functional prototypes that show acceptable performance. There is particular use for applications where the elongated instrument is constrained within a narrow and/or deep cavity.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.